Arizona's lax driver-test rules lure foreigners

Ariz. lets interpreters help with written test

by Sean Holstege - Sept. 24, 2011 12:00 AMThe Arizona Republic

Arizona has become a magnet for foreigners who find it easier to get a driver's license here than in the states where they live. It's a development that is raising public-safety and national-security concerns.

Arizona has more permissive rules than any other state governing who can get a license, how they can get it and how long the license is valid before it expires. Hundreds of people come to Arizona from stricter states seeking driving credentials.

Immigrant-rights advocates say Arizona provides an essential service for people who are in the country legally, often as refugees. They know how to drive a car but are unable to get a license in their home states because they can't pass a written test in English and translators aren't allowed.

But officials from other states say Arizona may be a pipeline for dangerously unqualified drivers. Also, some federal officials and homeland-security advocates warn that Arizona is vulnerable to propagating identity fraud and is notorious as a place for criminals to get fake licenses.

Arizona, with numerous seasonal and other part-time residents, lacks a residency requirement for people seeking licenses.

Applicants for an initial license need to pass a written and road test administered by the Motor Vehicle Division, or they need to pass a certification test by a private, state-licensed school.

Applicants with permanent addresses in other states can use translators to help them with the MVD's written tests.

An Arizona license is typically valid until the holder turns 65. In the case of legal foreign residents, licenses expire with their visas.

Arizona does require applicants to document their legal presence in the country, and the Arizona Department of Transportation has tighter standards than many states in the documents required to prove lawful presence, ADOT and a national watchdog group say.

But no other state has a longer renewal period, offers adults a proxy exam at a private school or issues out-of-of state licenses like Arizona, said Brian Zimmer, president of the Washington, D.C.-based Coalition for a Secure Driver's License, which wants to reduce ID fraud with tighter document security.

"The word is out on the East Coast: There are certain states you go to to get an easy license, and Arizona is one of them," Zimmer said.

"The Number 1 concern is they become a hazard for other drivers," he said, noting that, for instance, understanding road signs in English can be a problem.

The spotlight has turned on Arizona's out-of-state licenses because of an ongoing Massachusetts investigation.

There, state authorities said they suspended the licenses of 124 Somali refugees. They also are investigating hundreds of other Arizona license holders, according to the Boston Globe.

Authorities discovered the problem when the Somalis, who had failed a written test to get a license in Massachusetts, tried to exchange their Arizona licenses for Massachusetts credentials, said Richard Nangle, spokesman for the Massachusetts Registry of Motor Vehicles. Massachusetts allows exchanges without a written test.

Awaef Hussein, who helps immigrants at a Boston-area community center, said many were refugees who had grown frustrated and needed to drive to work. Some learned of Arizona's licenses by word of mouth because they had relatives here. All the immigrants he knows are in the country legally, he said.

Despite the Massachusetts case, Arizona officials do not believe their licensing system is widely abused. ADOT issued more than 3,900 out-of-state licenses in the past fiscal year.

"I don't think there is any cause for alarm," said Stacey Stanton, director of ADOT's Motor Vehicle Division. "There's nothing to indicate anything nefarious in this activity."

But Zimmer and others warn that Arizona is ripe for abuse.

"Nationally, it is common knowledge among those who follow these things that Arizona's system can be manipulated," said Vincent Picard, spokesman for Immigration and Customs Enforcement in Phoenix, which is advising ADOT on how to spot document fraud.

ADOT earlier this year launched an investigation into private driving schools in the state, officials said.

Although investigators were examining the competency of the schools, ICE officials also explained how there is potential for a "financial incentive for them to be less diligent than they should be about document security," Picard said.

Zimmer, who was a senior investigator for the House Judiciary Committee when he delved into how the 9/11 hijackers got ID documents, warned of such a threat to national security.

"Of course there is, if a driving school can be induced to accept bribes from a criminal," he said.

On Tuesday, prosecutors in Pennsylvania underscored the point when a federal grand jury convicted a Philadelphia woman for illegally helping hundreds of out-of-state residents there get driver's licenses.

The indictment said co-defendants in the case helped applicants provide phony Pennsylvania addresses and helped them cheat on tests between 2006 and last year. An undercover investigator was guaranteed a driver's license for $2,200 and fraudulent residency documents for $300, according to the indictment.

Recent cases in New Mexico also highlight the concerns.

Last month, a state grand jury returned a 300-felony-count indictment against an Albuquerque woman who was accused of creating fake residency documents to help illegal immigrants get driver's licenses in that state, according to a statement from the New Mexico's Governor's Office.

"This is yet another egregious case that shows we're attracting criminal elements to our state for the sole purpose of obtaining driver's licenses," Gov. Susana Martinez said. "Our driver's licenses have been compromised, and we're not only putting our residents at risk but those living in other states, as well."

Zimmer's group, the Coalition for a Secure Driver's License, said New Mexico is another state known for laxity.

The group said New Mexico is one of a dozen states that has met 10 or fewer of the 18 requirements under the 2005 REAL ID Act, a key post-9/11 legislation designed to eliminate the identity vulnerabilities exploited by the attackers.

Arizona, which has met 12 requirements, is one of a dozen other states with fewer than 14 in place.

From July 1, 2010, to June 30 of this year, ADOT issued more than 3,900 out-of-state licenses, down from a high of more than 12,000 during the same period five years earlier.

Stanton could not say how many were residents of other states or how many obtained licenses via private schools.

No school has lost its license after an annual renewal process or random state audit, nor have there been any customer complaints, she added.

ADOT's investigation into the schools is ongoing.

"We want to make sure professional driving schools are conducting themselves according to their contract," Stanton said. "You've got a customer who's paid for a class. We want to make sure there is consumer protection and that student gets what they paid for.

"I also want to make sure people are fit and able to be on the roadways."